McCain Introduces A La Carte Bill

McCain Introduces A La Carte Bill

Very interesting article:

Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) Thursday took to the Senate floor to introduce his a la carte bill, the Television Consumer Freedom Act.

According to McCain, the bill will "encourage the wholesale and retail 'unbundling' of programming by distributors and programmers; establish consequences if broadcasters choose to 'downgrade' their over-the-air service; and eliminate the sports blackout rule for events held in publicly-financed stadiums."

The bill would require programmers to make their channels available to cable operators on an a la carte basis; does not allow the bundling of co-owned cable channels and TV stations in carriage negotiations; and gets rid of the sports blackout rule for stadiums built with any public money. It also requires a broadcaster to deliver to cable operators a signal identical to the ones they deliver over the air -- with a carve-out for local commercials of up to a minute -- or have their license pulled and their spectrum reassigned.

McCain hammered on cable prices, as he has done for more than a decade, but said his bill would "put up a stop sign."

Lobbyists speaking on background all suggested that the bill would not go far, but would prompt debate at next week's state of video hearing in the Senate Commerce Committee.

As first reported by Multichannel News, the bill promotes -- some would say forces -- a la carte by tying it to the compulsory license. "[I]f the MVPD does not offer a broadcast station - and any other channels owned by the broadcaster - on an a la carte basis," McCain said, "the MVPD cannot rely on the compulsory license to carry those broadcast stations. The compulsory license is a benefit conferred on MVPDs. So, it's reasonable to ask the recipients of that benefit to provide consumers with an a la carte option."

The bill also puts pressure on broadcasters with co-owned cable channels. It says that unless they allow their channels, cable and broadcast, to be sold a la carte, they will lose their "important regulatory benefits" like "network non-duplication, syndicated exclusivity, blackout rights and retransmission consent option."

The bill would also require parties who can't agree to a carriage deal to provide their last offer to the FCC.

The cable and satellite operators doing business as the American Television Alliance did not exactly endorse the bill, but they did associate themselves with the effort as far as it was "recognizing the real and growing problem of outdated video regulations," calling it a "creative" solution and saying it was sure to generate further discussion and debate.

*The views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

*The views and opinions expressed on this forum are purely my own. Any product claim, statistic, quote, or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider, or party.

Re: McCain Introduces A La Carte Bill

If this does pass when do we get to start the funerals for the following channels?

Bravo

E!

DIY

Logo

Teen Nick

Boomerang

TV Land

MTV2

Spike

G4/Esquire

Syfy

Chiller

BET

TV One

Cloo

Tru TV

etc...

Yeah......and other good ones like HIST, HIST 2, Science......and perhaps both the Nat. Geographic channels.

Or...if they do remain available....just imagine how much the customer's cost will skyrocket. I would love to know who has been lobbying McCain for this legislation.

Those three won't be going anywhere. Bravo has the Real housewives of (insert city here) as well as other extremely popular shows. DIY and Syfy are also popular. The others, can't say that I've even switched to those channels.

” Auto racing, bull fighting, and mountain climbing are the only real sports … all others are games.”- Ernest Hemingway